The right is fond of invoking the views of “the founding fathers,” but on church-state issues they run into a problem: The founding fathers themselves inserted language into the Constitution that prohibited any “religious test” for persons holding federal office, and later added the famous language in the First Amendment forbidding the “establishment of religion.”

The big electoral news here in Massachusetts is the fight for the governor’s office, largely between Democrat Deval Patrick and the Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healy. Two other candidates in the race are independent Christy Mihos, who originally was planning on running as a Republican, and Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross. All four have participated in the debates.

TUCSON, Ariz. — In spite of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for Arizona to require voters to show identification before casting a ballot, public opinion polls show several incumbent right-wing congressmen in deep trouble.

Harold Ford, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Tennessee, is a “favorite son” of AFSCME Local 1733, a lawmaker with a 100 percent voting record in support of working families in the Memphis district he has represented for 10 years in Congress.